Alberta’s NDP government faces electoral test in Calgary-Foothills

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The residents of Calgary-Foothills will be casting their ballots next Thursday in a by-election that New Democratic candidate Bob Hawkesworth says could be considered a "referendum" on the priorities adopted so far by the province's NDP government.

"The government has decided to move ahead with the Calgary cancer centre and complete the ring road. I suppose I'm asking for a bit of a referendum on whether these priorities are also shared with people at the door," Mr. Hawkesworth told The Globe and Mail on Friday.

The by-election in the northwest corner of Calgary will be the first electoral test for Premier Rachel Notley since the NDP won an unprecedented majority on May 5. The vote comes after federal Conservative Leader Stephen Harper said that Alberta's three-month-old NDP government was a disaster that had been rejected by the population.

While she's refuted suggestions that the vote is a gauge of her government's approval, Ms. Notley has made four appearances over the past month campaigning with Mr. Hawkesworth.

"I know there's been a bit of a suggestion out there about this being a litmus test. If by-elections were litmus tests, Jim Prentice would be Premier right now," she said in mid-August.

Mr. Prentice, the former Progressive Conservative premier, resigned as MLA for Calgary-Foothills during his concession speech on election night, only hours after winning the seat but leading his party to a historic election loss that ended nearly 44 years of Tory rule.

Prasad Panda is looking to win the first seat in Calgary for the official opposition Wildrose. He says he's run into many people still angry at the Tories because of Mr. Prentice's snap resignation. He adds that the NDP's plan to increase the provincial carbon levy, review energy royalties and hike the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2018 has also caused concern.

"The NDP is trying to win this riding as sign of approval for their radical, ideological policy experiments. People are worried about that because the oil price is so low and many have already lost their jobs," said Mr. Panda. "People want the government to listen to their concerns and not make the situation worse."

Calgary-Foothills has elected a Tory since 1971. With an affluent population that has strong links to the oil and gas towers of downtown Calgary, it could have been considered a conservative fortress until a few months ago.

Mr. Hawkesworth previously sat in Alberta's legislature from 1986 to 1993 as an MLA for the downtown riding of Calgary-Mountain View. In 1986, he defeated a young Mr. Prentice when both men were vying to win their first seat.

Now holding the NDP banner in Calgary-Foothills, he says it feels like he's running as the incumbent.

"The focus in this by-election is all on the actions of the Premier and the steps the government has taken to fulfill their election promises. That's the agenda we're talking about," said Mr. Hawkesworth, who was also a Calgary alderman for two decades. "Now part of the campaign has been to start sketching out some of the basic pillars that the NDP will be pursuing in the fall."

Due to a by-election last October, won by Mr. Prentice, the residents of Calgary-Foothills will have voted for the third time in 10 months on Sept. 3. Because the vote comes on the Thursday before the Labour Day weekend, independent Calgary pollster Janet Brown expects a low turnout.

"It's a test of organization and boots on the ground, given that it's happening concurrently with the federal election, given that it's summer," she said. "It's going to come down to a lot of old-fashioned electioneering."

The office of PC candidate Blair Houston did not respond to a request for comment.